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Chemistry International
Vol. 23, No. 2
March 2001

 

Two Routes to Becoming a Medicinal Chemist

by C. Robin Ganellin **

Introduction

Prof. C. Robin Ganellin (University College London)

For the purposes of this article and the published references cited at the end, medicinal chemistry is considered in the context of the pharmaceutical industry, where it is concerned with the discovery and synthesis of compounds for biological evaluation as potential new drug therapies. It embraces the identification, design, synthesis, isolation, and chemical characterization of such compounds, the study of structure-activity relationships, and the molecular and physicochemical basis for biological activity.

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The Author
Syllabus for short post grd course (ref.8)

 

How to become a medicinal chemist? This question is of interest to many aspiring chemists wishing to become professionally involved in the design and synthesis of potential new drug molecules. The pharmaceutical industry is where most new chemical entities are developed into therapeutic products. It is a major employer of organic and medicinal chemists. There are two main routes to becoming a medicinal chemist. The most direct is by formal university courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The less direct and less certain is to train initially as an organic chemist and then join a pharmaceutical company engaged in new drug discovery and learn what is required "on the job". This route may take many years, and the outcome is uncertain. Probably not even the majority of organic chemists following this industrial route to medicinal chemistry will successfully make the transition to becoming a medicinal chemist making decisions about drug design.

View of Big Pharma

A few years ago, the IUPAC Medicinal Chemistry Section (now part of Division VII, Chemistry and Human Health) decided to find out from industry what was their preference for taking on new employees who will become their medicinal chemists. A questionnaire was sent [1] to leading medicinal chemists and research directors in the major international pharmaceutical companies engaged in research and development; their responses were surprisingly similar. Over 90% of the answers indicated that they preferred to take on organic chemists rather than specialists in medicinal chemistry. Some did suggest that it would be helpful for staff to have had some acquaintance with biological subjects such as biochemistry, pharmacology, and physiology [2-4].

It was very strongly stated that the most important educational background required of the new chemists was excellent training in synthetic organic chemistry and that most other necessary skills could be learned on the job. Surprisingly little interest was shown for having chemists with formal academic training in medicinal chemistry, or for chemists trained in organic synthesis but also having significant education in biological subjects.

Clearly, this finding must reflect the view that "if you cannot make the compound, then you cannot test it". However, what the chemist selects to make is also very critical; so, presumably, the opinion must exist that there are already sufficiently experienced medicinal chemists present in the companies to assist new chemists in the selection of target compounds. The balance required between these aspects of expertise and the ease of acquiring expertise is obviously debatable.

Academic Route

Historically, formal university education in medicinal chemistry takes place primarily in faculties or schools of pharmacy. There, medicinal chemistry is only one of a variety of subjects taught at the undergraduate level, where the primary focus is on education for future practicing pharmacists.

Undergraduate medicinal chemistry is usually taught by academic staff (i.e., faculty members) who are practicing medicinal chemists in the sense that they are usually supervising postgraduate students involved in studying a medicinal chemistry topic at research level, often for a Ph.D. requirement, and/or postdoctoral researchers. It was of interest, therefore, to find out where such academically research-trained medicinal chemists fit into the job spectrum of professionally active medicinal chemists. To this end, a questionnaire was sent to medicinal chemistry professors in faculties or schools of pharmacy in eight countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The questionnaire aimed to elicit information about postgraduate medicinal chemistry students, their courses and training, and the occupations taken up after graduation. The replies representing 109 medicinal chemistry departments or sections have been analyzed, and the results have been published [5-7] to provide a database on modern medicinal chemistry curricula for comparative purposes. The information should help guide discussion of the appropriate paths to be followed by students in preparation for their careers.

The above countries were selected because they have many faculties or schools of pharmacy and a developed pharmaceutical industry with a history of drug discovery. Some other countries with excellent drug discovery traditions, such as Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden, were not canvassed because they possess few faculties of pharmacy. The questionnaire consisted of 15 main questions and was divided into three sections. The first section was aimed at eliciting information about the composition of the post-graduate student body and the nature of the positions taken by the students after completing their studies. The second section requested information about the faculty staff. The third section asked about student coursework. The reader is referred to the publications for details.

Discussion

It was apparent that the training of medicinal chemists equips them to enter a wide range of occupations. In some of the countries, a substantial proportion of medicinal chemists do continue into synthetic medicinal chemistry. This pathway is especially evident in France, Japan, and the United Kingdom. On the whole, the numbers entering industry also look reasonably healthy and contrast interestingly with the expressed preference for organic chemists received from those with responsibility for hiring in the industry. The gulf between industry and academia as judged by the responses does not appear to be so wide. The impression given by the answers to the questionnaire sent to big pharmaceutical companies was that they were not particularly interested in hiring medicinal chemists. Presumably, fewer medicinal chemists are required to select drug targets and to influence structure-activity analysis in comparison with the number of chemists needed for synthesis who may be working together on a team. In addition, a proportion of the organic chemists will become medicinal chemists by experience "on the job" helped by short courses [8]. Furthermore, many more organic chemists than medicinal chemists are trained in universities; perhaps the ratio is >10:1. So it is easier for companies to find good organic chemists for drug synthesis, in comparison with the relatively few medicinal chemists available.

Big pharmaceutical companies, especially, organize drug discovery in teams of specialists, and they seek the best specialists available. All these factors contribute to create the overall impression that big pharmaceutical companies do not especially seek medicinal chemists for drug discovery. This trend may not apply to the many small pharmaceutical companies engaged in drug research who do not have teams of specialists and who have to rely much more on generalists. The latter may be medicinal chemists who understand organic synthesis but at the same time know how to converse with biochemists, pharmacologists, and other biologists. Possibly, small companies may be where the many trained synthetic medicinal chemists find their employment. In any case, the evidence is that the academic training of medicinal chemists equips them to enter a wide range of occupations–many of which are in industry–and that medicinal chemists are able to find suitable jobs.

References and Notes

1. The questionnaire was sent out in 1996 and 1997.
2. W. D. Busse and C. R. Ganellin. In Trends in Drug Research, Pharmacochemistry Library, V. Claasen (Ed.), Vol. 20, pp. 305-315, Elsevier, Amsterdam (1998).
3. C. R. Ganellin, L. A. Mitscher, J. G. Topliss. In Annual Reports in Medicinal Chemistry, Vol. 30, pp. 329- 338, Academic Press, New York (1995).
4. W. D. Busse, C. R. Ganellin, L. A., Mitscher. Eur. J. Med. Chem. 31, 747-760 (1996).
5. C. R. Ganellin, L. A. Mitscher, B. Clement, T.-H. Kobayashi, E. Kyburz, O. Lafont, A. Marcincal A. Monge, G. Tarzia, J. G. Topliss. Eur. J. Med. Chem. 35, 163-174 (2000). Online at <http://www.iupac.org/divisions/VII/761_1_90/report_EJMC2000.html>
6. C. R. Ganellin, L. A. Mitscher, J. G. Topliss. Med. Res. Rev. 18, 121-137 (1998).
7. T.-H. Kobayashi and C. R. Ganellin. Medchem. News 8, 21-28 (1998).
8. C. R. Ganellin. "Syllabus for a short postgraduate course in medicinal chemistry", Chem. Int. 17, 212- 214 (1995). Online at <http://www.iupac.org/divisions/VII/761_1_90/syllabus_mc.html

** Prof. C. Robin Ganellin (University College London, Department of Chemistry, Christopher Ingold Laboratory, 20 Gordon Street, London, England WC1H OAJ, UK; E-mail: [email protected]), Titular Member of the IUPAC Chemistry and Human Health Division (VII) Committee, President of the Medicinal Chemistry Section (VII.M) Committee, and Titular Member of the Medicinal Chemistry Section Commission on Training and Development (VII.M.2).

 

 

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